Here & There
by smile1
Summary: A Damon/Elena one piece. Elena's been cooped up in the house and Damon has a surprise for her, one that involves chocolate and strawberries...


**Disclaimer: I don't own the book or television series _The Vampire Diaries_. All I own is my imagination.**

**A/N: **In celebration of the almost return of the show, I give you a glance into my version of Elena's torn, twisted, and titillated psyche. What can I say, strawberries and chocolate, I would love them even more if Damon would get creative with them... In the future, I'm hoping that there will be such a fun and sizzling scene in the show, when their characters have reached that point... And while my versions of them have, I still attempted to keep them in character. Here's to what will hopefully be a good read. :)

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**Here And There**

_"And when I catch my breath, you're still there…"_

Elena was softly roused from her sleep by a tingling sensation, like someone was running a feather up and down her arm. The touch wasn't severe enough to give her goose bumps and want to pull her arm away; it actually felt nice and comforting. Her eyelashes fluttered and she drowsily opened her eyes, letting them fall immediately on her arm and what was causing the sensation. Someone was running their index and middle fingers up and down her bare skin. It took her a few silent seconds to register who they belonged to…

When she did, she pulled her arm towards her own body and scrambled to sit up in her bed. "Damon," she expressed her obvious frustration with his unexpected presence in her room. "Is it impossible for you to keep your hands to yourself?"

"I think _that_ answers my question." His gaze dropped down to her bed-wear: a light pink camisole and girly boxers to match. The covers had slid down when she had shot up in bed, leaving only the minimum to the imagination. "And to rephrase your question, how _is_ it possible for you to keep _your_ hands to yourself?"

The color in her cheeks deepened a shade, but he took the edge off his comment by shooting her an amused smile.

Elena clutched the covers to her body with one hand while running the other exasperatedly through her tousled locks. She threw a quick glance at the clock. "What are you doing here, Damon? It's just past midnight. Don't you have clueless teenage girls to seduce?"

"Isn't that what I'm doing?" he countered with a playful wiggle of his eyebrows. "The only difference is that you're a little harder to get, a little less now that my brother is temporarily out of the picture…"

She narrowed her eyes and flung her pillow at him before falling back onto the bed.

Damon rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on little Miss Sensitive, you got to learn how to take a joke."

"If only there wasn't a little truth in every one," she shot back at him.

He chuckled, brushing off the remark as he sat down on the edge of her bed.

She eyed him. "Is there a reason for your presence? Because if it's _not_ a life and death situation, I'd like to get back to sleep."

"Ah," he began, touching his thumb to his bottom lip, "Got some crazy plans tomorrow I don't know about? Some indoor crazy plans?" he was annoyingly referring to the fact that she was literally trapped between the walls of her house. For her own safety, Bonnie had conjured up a spell that made it impossible for her to leave the house. Thus, she was as safe as she could be, but slowly going insane as well. She had too much time on her hands to reflect on things. Not only was she physically trapped in the house, she was also metaphorically trapped. As if she was in this place that was in between two others and she had been in one of them before, but the other she hadn't set foot in yet. _The ground wasn't even either, with Stefan out of sight and Damon always there. _And although she acted frustrated with his frequent presence, not so secretly she actually enjoyed his unexpected visits. They made her days more exciting and unpredictable. _She never knew what would happen when he was around. _

Pure delight lit up his eyes, making him seem as alive as she was for a second or two. The anger she felt almost instantly faded for a reason she couldn't explain, but felt inside. She sighed and sat back up. "So, is it a life and death situation? Does it require me changing?"

He shook his head. "It _definitely_ doesn't require you changing." Even the light pink couldn't subdue her fieriness. He got up and held out his hand to her. "It's a surprise."

Elena eyed Damon's hand suspiciously. "You're not actually going to try and seduce me, are you?" she teasingly inquired before carefully placing her hand in his.

He wasn't as cautious and the grip he had on her hand was a firm one, almost a little intimidating, as he pulled her up from the bed. She braced herself against his chest, a little on the shy side while his eyes roamed over her minimally clad figure. "If I wanted you, I'd have you," he flirted back good-naturedly.

She smiled, her eyes now brazenly set on his. "Isn't that way you've been claiming for a while now?"

Her approach was a daring one, but her increased heartbeat gave her away and his attention was temporarily diverted. He brought the fingers of his other hand to the vervain-filled necklace she was wearing, leaving them floating above it. "It would be a little less challenging without this… See, this… is cheating."

He flashed her a smile, pleased with his answer. Elena pulled her hand from his grasp as she shook her head. "This," she said while reaching for her necklace, "is only fair. Your compulsion on the other hand…"

Damon shrugged. "It's the means to an end."

Her brow wrinkled up as she pulled a disgusted face. "How romantic."

"What can I say, romance is obviously dead." He gestured abstractly in the air. "Now, do you want your surprise or not?" He walked over to the door, nudged it open with his shoulder and motioned for her to go first. "It's downstairs."

She apprehensively eyed him for a second or two before crossing her arms and giving in. She past him, making sure to be as quiet as she possibly could while making her way through the hallway and down the stairs. She glanced back over her shoulder to see if Damon was still there, but of course he wasn't. He was waiting for her in the living room, standing off to the side so she could take in the scene.

He had drawn back the curtains in the living room, allowing the moon unfiltered passage as it streamed through and pooled onto the floor. No candles or lights were needed to illuminate the small picnic basket that stood in the middle of the room on top of a picnic blanket. It would have been cute… if it hadn't been put there by her boyfriend's brother who had ulterior motives and if it hadn't been indoors in the middle of the night. Still, there was something dream-and-fairytale-like about it, the ones that started off good, but didn't originally end up that way, although they were rewritten so that everyone always lived happily ever after.

She was drawn to the picnic basket, even though she feigned disinterest as she looked over at where Damon was standing. "What's this?"

"An indoors midnight picnic," he answered with a casual shrug of his shoulders as if there was nothing off about it at all. "It's ironic as well convenient."

She watched him walk over to the basket. "Convenient how?"

He sat down on the blanket. "Well, if the date goes well your room's right there."

Her mouth almost dropped at the audacity, but instead she only shook her head disapprovingly. "In what universe is this a date?"

"In the universe where vampires exist and your almost ex-boyfriend is physically incapable of getting to you," he returned smoothly. He lifted his head to look at her. "Do I really need to add the doppelganger ex-lover part?" He patted the basket. "Now, aren't you curious to what's in here?"

"Stefan is not my almost ex-boyfriend. You know that, Damon." Elena crossed her arms. "I don't appreciate you being so—"

Damon raised his hands to silence her. "Fine, I get it. You're still a little sensitive when it comes to the whole Stefan-sharing-a-tomb-with-his-ex-situation. I was just trying to add some excitement to your life, in a small dosage of course; I know that is your limit." He rolled his eyes. "I don't get it. Life _is _already short and you—"

Elena uncrossed her arms and mimicked his earlier gesture. "Just open the basket." She joined him on the blanket, Indian style and arms close to her body.

He gave the basket a gentle push towards her. "You do the honors. It is, after all, your surprise."

Hesitating for a second, she reached for the basket, careful and slow as she opened it to peer at its contents. She stuck her hands in and pulled out the large bowl of strawberries and small bowl with melted chocolate.

"How's that for romantic?"

"Or perverted."

He chuckled. "You have no idea. But tonight," he said while reaching for a strawberry and dipping it into the chocolate, "they're just a late night dessert." He devoured the strawberry in one bite. He reached for another as did she and their fingers brushed against each other. _The spark was like thunder striking for the umpteenth time: simultaneously unbelievable and fated._ She quickly took a strawberry and pulled her hand back. She silently nibbled at it while her mind wandered…

_She took a bite of the strawberry, aware that it was an action that tended to be viewed as being sensual and having sexual connotations. She thought that movies were to blame for this phallic interpretation and men, of course. She swore that they didn't think the same way as women did. And now she was stooping to their level, sinking her teeth into the fruit slowly and taking a small enough bite so the juices wouldn't drip and run down her mouth unattractively. She thought about licking her fingers, but decided against it; there was no point in overdoing it. She swallowed the bite and gingerly raised her eyes to touch on his. She saw the fire in them as they took her in almost hungrily. They were as lust filled as hers were, although she was pretty sure that he ached even more for the contact than she did. _

_Not letting him wait anymore, she boldly straddled him and offered him the rest of the strawberry. He didn't hesitate and opened his mouth, careful for his teeth not to graze her fingers as she lowered the fruit into his mouth. She licked her fingers as he sat back and finished his food, though the strawberry wasn't exactly what he was craving. But it was a good start. Juices ran down the corner of his mouth. He moved to wipe at it, but Elena shook her head and stopped him mid-movement. "It's my mess. Allow me," she whispered seductively before lowering her head and lapping up the strawberry juices with her tongue. _

_Damon looked at her almost in awe as she made sure to get every drop that had been spilled. His hands were still on either ends of his body as he hadn't dared moving the second she had straddled him. When she finished, she tilted her head and teasingly licked her lips. Her hands were resting in the narrow space between their bodies and, this time, Damon was the first to take action. He figured it was the thing to do since he had been behaving himself the last couple of minutes. His signature smirk finally appeared and he grabbed her by the waist, making sure to slide his fingers underneath the soft fabric of her camisole. "I think my turn's long overdue," he told her before bucking his hips forwards, gently forcing her off his lap and laying her down on the floor. _

_She squirmed from the intimate and pleasurable contact, pushing her hips up to meet his as he covered her body with his own. His hands slid up and with one pull he ripped her camisole. He brushed the pieces of fabric to the side to reveal her bare skin and bra. She gasped at the rough gesture. "Damon…" _

_He fingered the frilly light pink fabric of her bra before moving his hand upwards a little, feeling her heartbeat. "Shhh... Everything's fine." He reached for the bowl of chocolate with his other hand and tipped it over. The chocolate was still warm and Elena hollowed her back at the contact, relaxing as she got used to its silky feel. He made a trail that started off at the space between her breasts and ran all the way down her stomach. He flicked the bowl from him and nuzzled the space between her breasts, licking up the chocolate. He followed the chocolate trail downwards until he ended up at her navel. His hands lingered at the frilly border of her girl boxers and she lowered her hands to his, eager and willing. _

_He caught her hands in his own before they could land and she felt the hum of his chuckle against her skin. He pushed her arms back over her head and pinned them to the floor. He was obviously being dominant, but it was just a role and only a minute or two ago he had been the submissive one. He lowered his lips down to hers and her tongue snuck in eagerly to taste what the chocolate had done to him. She closed her eyes._

He said her name, only it wasn't in a sexy and raspy whisper like she had imagined; his tone was loud and clear as it cut through her fantasy and made it all come tumbling down. Her eyes flew open and she found herself still sitting across from Damon, the fabric of her camisole balled frenziedly in her hands as her breaths came a little heavier than usual through her slightly parted lips. Her eyes darted from Damon's not-so-clueless face to the desert he had brought with him. _The chocolate was still in its bowl._ An intense and immediate blush spread over her features and she kept her eyes low and hooded. She was embarrassed to say the least and her hands sprang from her camisole to her hair, to her face, and back down to her lap.

"Someone was thinking perverted thoughts," he quipped. "Care to share?" She stayed silent, like he had expected her to. "That's okay." He reached for another strawberry. "I think I can pretty much guess." He triumphantly put the strawberry in his mouth, his move deliberate.

Elena forced herself to look away. "It's getting late."

Damon licked his lips before retorting, "Not for me." His eyes landed on her slowly, vulnerable and delectable as she sat across from him and the color in her cheeks now matching her pink sleeping attire. "Well, it looks like you're in desperate need for some alone time… So, I'll clean up. Although, if you need another helping hand, mine is aching to comply."

He heard her huff as she scrambled up from the floor, keeping her eyes to herself as she did so. "You're unbelievable."

"That's what they say…"

"Goodnight, Damon," she told him brusquely, turning on her heel, ready to disappear upstairs. She was on the first step when he appeared behind her. His fingers gripped her wrist and tugged her back down. Elena's body turned to meet his and he pushed the bow of chocolate and strawberries in her hands.

His eyes touched hers, the way a candle's flame would lick one's skin. The burning sensation was instant.

"Goodnight, Elena."

She clutched the bowls and headed up the stairs, accepting that frantic chocolate covered dreams were in store for her.

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**Please review? **Like always, thanks so much for reading and sharing in my guilty pleasures and obsessions. :) Writing is what I love, so commens and/or critique are definitely amazing tools for my improvement. Thanks. :)


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